The 20-year sentence that British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell received for colluding with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to exploit and sexually abuse youngsters has been officially appealed.
Only a little more than a week after being ordered to serve time in a low security Danbury, Connecticut jail for sex trafficking teenage girls, Maxwell, 60, filed the notice of appeal in New York federal court on Thursday.
Following a trial that lasted over a month, she was found guilty of federal sex trafficking charges in December of last year.
After five days of deliberations, the jury ultimately decided that she was guilty of five of the six charges brought against her, including one for enticing minors to perform sex acts with Epstein.
After describing Maxwell’s offenses as “heinous and prefatory,” Judge Alison Nathan then sentenced him to 240 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, on June 28.
Additionally, she issued a $750,000 punishment while noting that Maxwell had received a $10 million bequest from Epstein upon his passing.
Judge Nathan emphasized that the case required a “very large sentence” that communicated a “unmistakable message” that such crimes would be punished, saying that “Ms. Maxwell cooperated with Epstein to choose young victims who were vulnerable and played a crucial part in facilitating sexual abuse.”
Her attorneys, however, fought back against the high fee, arguing that she “had gotten nothing” from Epstein’s legacy.
Additionally, Maxwell’s lawyer, Bobbi Sternheim, stated last week outside the federal courthouse: “Our client Ghislaine Maxwell has been vilified, pilloried and left little room for her to be treated fairly.”
Because she was being judged and found guilty in the court of public opinion even before she stomped into this courtroom.
Maxwell expressed regret for her behavior in a public statement before being sentenced.
I understand that I have been found guilty of aiding Jeffrey Epstein in committing these crimes, she admitted.
“My relationship with Epstein will forever tarnish me.” The fact that I ever met him is the worst regret of my life.
She continued by saying that Epstein “fooled everyone in his sphere” and asserted that she was a victim of his.
She had also wrote in a note prior to the punishment that a rough background made her vulnerable to conduct such horrific deeds after her father inexplicably died in 1991.
Because of Maxwell’s “total lack of remorse,” the prosecution had urged Judge Nathan to sentence her to at least 30 years in prison; however, Maxwell argued that she should only receive four years because she poses no threat to the public.
But before Maxwell could speak in court, the heartbreaking evidence of her sex trafficking victims made her have to face them.
In their devastating victim impact statements, Annie Farmer, Sarah Ransome, Elizabeth Stein, and a lady only identified as Kate urged the judge to give the worst penalty possible and asked that Maxwell serve out the remainder of her life in jail.
Ransome shared images of herself lying in a hospital bed after she attempted suicide because the trauma of the sexual abuse had become intolerable.
She described herself as nothing more than a sex toy with a heartbeat and soul that was used to amuse Epstein, Maxwell, and others.
“On one visit to the island, the sexual demands, degradation, and humiliation caused me to try to flee by jumping down a cliff into shark-infested waters,” Ransome claimed in her victim statement.
Just before I jumped, Maxwell and the others caught me.
She claimed, “At the time, that incredibly dangerous escape looked more enticing than being raped once more.”
Ransome continued, “Maxwell is currently the same lady I met nearly 20 years ago—uncapable of sympathy or common human decency.
“Although she won’t change, giving her a life sentence in prison will at least provide the survivors a some feeling of justice, according to this statement.
Farmer, on the other hand, struggled to hold back tears as she pleaded with the judge to consider the “ongoing pain of the several women she harmed and exploited.”
Farmer said, “Judge Nathan, I hope you take into account the ongoing suffering of the many women she abused and exploited as we will continue to live with the memories of the ways she harmed us when you consider the appropriate prison sentence for the role Maxwell played in this sex-trafficking operation.
“I hope you consider the systemic consequences of the crimes she committed—the harm our loved ones, intimate partners, and friends have endured as a result of our suffering.
I ask you to keep in mind how Maxwell’s denial of her crimes, her lack of regret, and her repeated fabrications of her victims led many of us to become involved in a protracted pursuit of justice that has felt like a black hole suckling away our valuable time, energy, and well-being for far too long.
“These items are irreplaceable.”
Farmer criticized Maxwell’s “very phony” apologies following the sentencing.
The opportunity to finally speak up and have my voice recorded as I described how her acts affected other people and me was really profound, according to Farmer.
Her words struck me as a rather empty apology.
She did not accept responsibility for the crimes she committed, and it appeared that she was just concerned about her own interests and not at all about the harm she caused.
Kate claimed that Maxwell’s lack of remorse and her brazen reluctance to accept responsibility is her ultimate insult, and Stein disclosed that she had to get an abortion after being raped “countless” times.
She doesn’t care, and she’ll do it once again.
Women “must take a stand of zero tolerance to those who exploit their power to groom and traffic the weak,” according to Kate.
Every child’s innocence needs to be protected, adds Kate.
“No one should be exempt from the repercussions of their conduct,” the saying goes.
The final insult Maxwell throws is her apparent reluctance to accept responsibility and her lack of regret.
She won’t apologize and she’ll do it once more.
“This is not a happy day today.
“Being a part of a world where this is essential does not make me happy.
I am honored to work alongside these courageous ladies and take whatever action is required to stop Ghislaine.
Virginia Roberts, a fellow victim, was not present in court, but her attorney Sigrid McCawley read her statement.
McCawley reads from Giuffre’s statement, “Ghislaine, 22 years ago, in the summer of 2000, you saw me at the Mar-a-Lago Hotel in Florida, and you made a choice.”
“You decided to stick with me and get me for Jeffrey Epstein.
The first time you and he abused me together happened just hours later.
You both hurt me emotionally, physically, mentally, and sexually.
Together, you performed unimaginable things that continue negatively affect me now.
Ghislaine, you irrevocably changed the path of our life when you did that,’ she wrote.
After Epstein committed suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial, focus shifted to Maxwell, who was detained a year later and convicted in December after a high-profile trial.
During Maxwell’s trial, which lasted many weeks, four women testified against her: Annie Farmer, Kate, Carolyn, and victim “Jane.”
Over the course of three weeks, the jury heard how Maxwell “served up” minors to Epstein at his Florida house and delighted in her role as the “Lady of the House.”
Lawyers claimed Maxwell was Epstein’s “right hand” between 1994 and 2004 and paid $200 for sexually explicit massages or possibly took part in the assault.
The jury was informed that the victims, some of whom were as young as 14, received a comparable sum of money if they brought acquaintances to Epstein.
Prosecutors called 24 witnesses during the trial to paint a picture for the jury of life inside Epstein’s houses, a topic of public curiosity and rumor ever since his arrest in Florida in 2006 in a child sex case.
A cleaner claimed that Epstein, a financier who made contacts with powerful politicians and business tycoons, wanted him to be “blind, deaf, and stupid” about his personal life.
Aboard the testimony stand, pilots mentioned famous people who flew on Epstein’s private jets, including Prince Andrew of Britain, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump.
A folding massage table that had previously been used by Epstein and a “black book” that included the contact information for some of the victims under the heading “massages” were also shown to the jury as tangible evidence.
According to bank records, he transferred Maxwell $30.7 million.
Additionally, the prosecution provided a 58-page household handbook that they claimed Maxwell had prepared, covering every single element of maintaining the Palm Beach home.
Numerous checklists were provided, along with directions on when to replace the toothpaste and which types of lotions to buy for each region of the house.
One directive given to every member of the domestic staff that the prosecution seized upon was, “You see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing.”
However, the evidence of four women, who claimed to have been mistreated by Maxwell and Epstein when they were young, formed the basis of the case.
Three witnesses—Jane, a television actress; Kate, a former British model; and Carolyn, a mother who is currently in recovery from drug addiction—spoke in court using only their first names or pseudonyms to safeguard their privacy.
The fourth was Farmer, who decided to go by her true name after recently coming forward with her accusations.
The testimony of Carolyn, one of numerous impoverished teenagers who lived close to Epstein’s Florida house in the early 2000s and accepted an offer to provide massages in exchange for $100 notes, was the most heartbreaking.
Carolyn testified to the jury that Maxwell made all the arrangements even though she was aware the girl was just 14 at the time.
When Jane was only 14 years old in 1994, she claimed that Epstein ordered her to follow him into a pool house on the Palm Beach estate, where he masturbated on her.
While this was going on, Jane testified to the jury, saying, “I was frozen in dread,” and adding that this was the first time she had ever seen a penis.
Additionally, she accused Maxwell personally of taking part in her assault.
Jane was questioned by Maxwell’s attorney about her delay in coming forward.
I was afraid, she said in response.
I felt humiliated and ashamed.
I didn’t want any of this information about me to be public.
Additionally, Kate stated that she was 17 years old when she was hired by Maxwell in London in 1994, and she vividly recalled how she had Maxwell over for tea before having her come back and give Epstein a massage.
In her horrifying testimony, Kate recalled how Maxwell shut the door behind her as Epstein laid naked in front of her on a massage table.
Maxwell asked her after one of these encounters, “Did you have fun? Was it effective?
Farmer recalled how Epstein enticed her to his ranch in New Mexico when she was 16 by promising to help dozens of other intelligent children.
As opposed to that, it was just her and Maxwell, who then began massaging her breasts before Epstein joined her in bed.
Farmer concluded by saying, “I think this was all a pattern of them working on confounding my boundaries and make me question myself about what was good and what was not right with the ultimate purpose of sexually abusing me.”
Before finding Maxwell guilty on five out of six counts, the jury deliberated for five whole days.
Despite assertions by her lawyers that she had been losing weight and hair as a result of the unfavorable conditions in prison before to trial, Maxwell frequently hugged her attorneys in court and seemed to be in good health.
She informed the judge that there was no reason for her to testify because the government had not established its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Given her origins as an affluent socialite and the descendant of the late newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell, who mysteriously jumped from his yacht in the Canary Islands in 1991, Maxwell’s fall from grace is all the more astounding.
When Maxwell met Epstein around the time her father passed away, her attorneys attempted to claim that Maxwell was “weak” because of Robert Maxwell’s aggressive actions toward his children.
She seems to have swapped out one domineering, manipulating father for Epstein, a man she dated before taking over his sex trafficking operation.
Although the precise number of Epstein’s victims may never be known, 150 women from all around the world received $121 million from the fund established to compensate them.
Prior to sentence, the majority of the victim impact statements were made public, and they were scathing in their criticism of Maxwell.
They included Virginia Roberts, who earlier this year reached a settlement with Prince Andrew in a lawsuit for an estimated $12 million over allegations that she was coerced into having sex with him three times when she was just 17 years old.
Roberts claims that Maxwell approached her at Florida’s Mar-a-Lago club when she was 16 years old and recruited her.
In her victim impact statement reads that Maxwell and Epstein committed ‘unthinkable things’ to her.
Without a doubt, Jeffrey Epstein was a horrible child molester, according to the statement.
But if it weren’t for you, I would have never met Jeffrey Epstein. You unlocked the gates of hell for me and countless others.
Then, Ghislaine, you betrayed us by using your femininity while leading the rest of us along like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
“Ghislaine, you ought to live out the rest of your days in a cell.” You deserve to spend all of your time in a cage, exactly like you did to your victims.
‘I recall sitting at my desk in a Houston hospital physically shivering after viewing the photo of Maxwell with Virginia Giuffre and Prince Andrew because it became evident to me how their scam had persisted,’ Farmer writes in her victim impact statement.
Having grown up in Scotland, former South African model Sarah Ransome claimed that Maxwell and Epstein reduced her to “nothing more than a sex toy with a heartbeat.”
She attempted to jump off a cliff when fleeing Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean, but Maxwell caught her before she could.
Maxwell was his right-hand lady, according to Ransome.
She served as the Five Star General for numerous recruiters and other individuals that gave Epstein’s predatory behavior the means and cover to occur.
“Epstein and Maxwell were experts at spotting young, helpless girls and young women to exploit,” one observer remarked.
The Epstein-Maxwell dungeon of sexual torment was similar to Hotel California in that you could enter it on faith but never leave. Ghislaine and Jeffrey made sure of that.
After Maxwell’s attorneys questioned statements made by one of the jurors, Scotty David, the sentencing was postponed.
He claimed that when filling out his jury questionnaire, he did not disclose his history of sexual abuse.
David was recalled to the court by judge Nathan for a hearing when she quizzed him and later concluded his nondisclosure had been an inadvertent blunder.